The Apprentice sparring session worked the same way the Explorer sparring sessions did. Meaning half the Apprentices were challengers while the remaining half were defenders. Challengers constantly challenged defenders to spars until they won, then they would switch roles, the challenger would become a defender and the defender would become a challenger.
Rui lost to Fae, so he quickly got off the stage for the next challenger.
"You got your ass kicked." Kane chuckled lightly, as he entered the ring. "Don't worry, I'll avenge you."
"You're going up against her next?" Rui asked, surprised.
"Yep."
"I see, well, good luck."
Rui was quite exhausted. He had initially intended to consume a rejuvenation potion before resuming the challenger process. But a fight between Kane and Fae was worth postponing that.
He watched closely as Kane entered the stage.
"My, so you're my next challenger?" Fae smirked. "I was considering consuming a potion, but if it's just little old you, then there shouldn't be much of a problem." She mocked.
"Don't worry, by the time I'm done with you, you'll be needing more than a single measly little rejuvenation to get back on your feet." He retorted.
They both exchanged no more words, quickly taking their stances. Kane's stance was low, crouched, this allowed him to dash and reach top speed quicker. His hands were open and sharp, his arms were aligned with his legs.
('That stance allows him to use Parallel Walk without any delay.') Rui keenly observed. Parallel Walk was a maneuvering technique that relied on arms and upper body swinging inline, rather opposite to the legs. Keeping his arms and legs inline meant, he would not have to waste any time when the match began, and could immediately moving.
('He intends to close the distance quickly.') Rui realized.
On the other hand, Fae adopted a rather unusual stance. Her left leg was forward, while her right leg was bit further behind, both slightly crouched. Her left arm was straight, pointing at Kane, with her open palm facing him. Her right palm was upside down, tucked at her waist like a coiled serpent waiting to lash out.
Rui could feel the tension escalating as both fighters grew more and more focused on their opponent.
"Begin!" The supervisor declared, beginning the match.
Kane moved blurringly fast, his figure even briefly disappeared as Rui's eyes could barely keep up with the abrupt acceleration to Kane's superhuman top speed.
In an instant Fae and Kane were face-to-face.
Kane launched a blindingly-fast punch, while Fae launched a fearsome palm.
Just as the strikes were about to launch, Kane suddenly cancelled his attack and avoided Fae's Palm, leaping back.
This drew some murmurs from onlookers. "Looks like Fae is stronger."
Rui shook his head. ('No, he made the right choice.')
If Kane had continued the mutual attack, he definitely would have suffered more damage. As far as power-per-strike went, Fae was almost unmatched in their batch of Apprentices. On the other hand, Kane's striking power was not quite as good.
Meaning if they exchanged blows head-on, Kane would undoubtedly take much more damage.
Kane realized this in the last moment and avoided this undesirable outcome.
('You're an evasive maneuverer Kane, you need to exploit that to the absolute maximum if want to win this fight.') Rui mused.
Kane dashed at Fae, dodging her attacks narrowly, before leaping back.
He dashed from another angle, dodged her counter and leapt back.
He dashed from yet another angle, and dodged her counter, leaping back.
He dashed, dodged, and leapt back.
Again.
And again.
And again.
He began repeating this course of action over and over.
"Tsk, he's just buzzing around her like a fly. Is he really the son of the legendary Devil?" A Martial Apprentice mocked, disregarding Kane's status.
His fighting drew scorn from the onlookers, all except one.
Rui eyed those around him, before tutting. ('Tsk, clueless fools.')
He turned back to the fight with a knowing smile. Although to the casual layman, it may have looked like Kane was too scared to engage Fae, but Rui had realized what Kane was going for a long time ago.
He nodded. ('It's a rough plan, not the best course of action but it has a solid chance of working.')
Kane knew that getting into a frontal exchange of blows with Fae would be bad for him, that was where she was at her strongest. Furthermore, unlike when he fought Rui, Kane couldn't simply try to squirm past narrow openings to launch strikes on Fae.
Fae's body was tough, thanks to body conditioning. She could simply ignore his attack and allow it to hit her. Rather than blocking or dodging, she would simply strike him.
Although Kane was much faster than her, it was impossible for him to cross one meter, land a strike and then jump out of range, all before Fae could launch even a single strike. He would be need to be exponentially faster than her to achieve such a feat. And Fae was not slow by means.
Thus, Kane decided to try something else.
('He intends to force Fae to launch her formidable palm strikes over and over until her stamina is drained. Although Parallel Walk, Balance Direction and his other maneuvering techniques still consume less energy than Fae's immense explosive power.') Rui analyzed.
The power of Fae's palm attacks was extremely high. Not only did she regularly use highly power consuming techniques like Outer Convergence, which she used against him in the Entrance Exam, she used several other medium-high-grade techniques that allowed her to exert massive amounts of energy with every strike.
The power consumption was extremely high. Fae's Martial Art was an offensive Martial Art that was meant to pummel down her opponents quickly, it was not suited in these kinds of extended battles. She would simply fizz out of energy.
('Which is exactly what is slowly happening.') Rui noted the profuse sweat on Fae's face.
Her palm strikes were draining her energy, especially because they all missed Kane cleanly. Kane was still extraordinarily fast, she had no hope of tagging him with ordinary attacks.
('At this rate, you'll win this Kane!') Rui cheered him on.
